THROWBACK THURSDAY - ABOUT A BOY by NICK HORNBY

This is an event hosted by Jenny at TakeMeAway . It is a weekly corner to write about good reads from the past. Those books we so much loved and we don't want to forget.

 This week one of my favourite British contemporary novelists, someone who knows how to make me smile and think at the same time while reading, all through his witty, humorous  novels: Nick Hornby. The first of his works I read was ABOUT A BOY (1998) and it is another of those book I like to read to/with my students. They are teenagers like one of the protagonsists of the novel, Marcus. Instead,  I'm an adult -  well I hope a more responsible and less shallow one - like the other main character, Will Freeman.  We can compare ourselves on the same story, which is both emotional and utterly entertaining. About a boy is really about the  embarassing, hilarious, awful grounds where adults and kids can meet.

Will is  36 but acts like a teenager. Single, child-free and still feeling cool, he reads the right magazines, goes to the right clubs and knows which trainers to wear. He's also discovered a great way to score with women at single parents' groups, full of grateful available mothers, all looking for Mr Nice Guy.
That's when Will meets Marcus, 12. The oldest 12-year-old in the world. Marcus is odd, bizzarre, especially to Will. He listens to Mozart and likes Joni Mitchell! He takes care of his mother and does his best to make her happy and proud of him. Maybe Will can teach Marcus how to be a kid , but, of course Marcus will help Will to grow up. In the end both learn to act their age.

ABOUT A BOY is  also a movie  I love . I hit it off with the story when I saw it at the cinema (2002)  and  it was one of those rare occasions in which I first saw the film then bought the book.  Hugh Grant is Will, Nicholas Hoult is Marcus, Toni Collette is Fiona - Marcus's mother and Rachel Weisz is Rachel.